1.2 Parking Control Officer Deployment

As part of the Budget Analyst"s performance audit of DPT, we reviewed the deployment policies and practices, as well as the availability of PCOs to work their scheduled assignments, in the Enforcement Division.

Enforcement Division management is responsible for deploying PCOs for each assignment. We asked Enforcement Division managers to define minimum staffing requirements by assignment, shift, and day of week. We defined minimum staffing requirements for Enforcement Division managers as the number of PCOs that are required each day to provide adequate enforcement services throughout the City. Typical factors that were used by management to determine minimum staffing requirements included: (1) the areas throughout the City in which parking regulations must be enforced, as determined by the location of parking meters, residential permit parking areas, street cleaning routes, yellow zones, towaway zones, etc.; (2) concerns expressed by the public; and (3) the availability of PCOs, vehicles and radios.

In addition, we obtained a copy of current PCO assignments from the most recent PCO sign-up, effective September 26, 1998. Shift sign-ups are conducted on approximately a semiannual basis. Prior to the sign-up, Enforcement Division managers designate a certain number of slots for each assignment by shift start time and scheduled days off (e.g., Saturday and Sunday). The number of slots available for each assignment and shift presumably reflect the minimum staffing requirements defined by management. The available assignment slots are posted, and PCOs then have the opportunity to sign up, based on seniority, for their preferred assignment.

Lastly, we also applied the productivity factor calculated in Section 1.1 to the number of scheduled shifts in order to determine how many PCOs are actually available to work out of the total number of PCOs scheduled.

Based on our interviews with Enforcement Division managers, and our analysis of staffing and deployment data compiled from Department records, we found that the Enforcement Division is unable to meet minimum staffing requirements or to consistently provide adequate levels of parking enforcement services within the City. Our conclusions are drawn from the following specific findings:

• The number of PCOs assigned and available for certain details and shifts is often insufficient to meet the minimum staffing requirements believed to be appropriate by management; and

• The number of PCOs scheduled and available to work is not always sufficient to adequately enforce parking regulations throughout the City, and DPT often does not provide enforcement services during all the time periods when coverage is needed.

Inability to Meet Minimum Staffing Requirements

Using the minimum staffing information developed based on interviews with Enforcement Division managers, and scheduling and attendance records obtained from Enforcement Division Administration, we were able to construct a model which compares the total number of hours worked per year by PCOs to the number of hours per year that are required to provide minimum staffing. Based on this analysis, we concluded that there are insufficient staff available to meet the minimum staffing requirements, as defined by Enforcement Division management.

Table 1.2-1 on the following page shows the number of PCOs needed to meet daily minimum staffing requirements, and, by day of week, the number of scheduled PCO shifts, the number of scheduled PCOs with a regular assignment, the number of PCOs available to work (based on actual attendance), and the estimated staff surplus/shortfall. As shown in Table 1.2-1, the Enforcement Division has an estimated staffing shortfall equivalent to approximately 24 PCOs overall. The Department falls below its minimum staffing requirements by approximately 119 shifts per week. The highest staff shortage occurs on Monday, when 29 (13 percent) of the 225 PCO shifts needed to meet minimum staffing requirements remain unstaffed.

Table 1.2-1

Scheduled and Actual Staffing versus the

Enforcement Division"s Minimum Staffing Requirements

Table 1.2-1 also shows that, overall, the total number of scheduled shifts for PCOs with regular assignments (1,325 shifts per week) exceeds the minimum staffing requirements of 1,242 shifts per week. However, the number of scheduled PCO shifts falls short of the minimum requirements on weekends. In addition, after a closer examination of specific PCO assignments, we found that DPT falls short of minimum staffing requirements on the following assignments: (1) General Enforcement, (2) Residential Permit Parking, (3) the 587/588 (complaints) Detail, and (4) the Abandoned Auto Detail. The staffing shortfalls for General Enforcement and Residential Permit Parking are discussed in further below under Comparison of Staffing Levels to the Level of Enforcement Services Needed. In the 587/588 and Abandoned Auto Details, we found that the number of scheduled PCO shifts fell below minimum staffing requirements by 10 shifts per week (two FTEs) and five shifts per week (one FTE), respectively.

Thus, in certain cases, DPT is unable to meet minimum staffing requirements due to an insufficient number of PCOs scheduled to work on certain days and on certain assignments. However, this problem is further exacerbated by the high absenteeism among PCOs (discussed in Section 1.1), which prohibits the Department from meeting its minimum staffing requirements under most circumstances. For example, as shown in Table 1.2-1, after actual attendance is taken into account, DPT falls short of its minimum staffing requirements on every day of the week. As a result of PCO absences, the equivalent of 74 PCOs (25 percent) of the existing 299 PCOs miss their scheduled shifts on average. Although a certain level of absenteeism is to be expected, the rate of absenteeism exhibited by PCOs is excessive.

Comparison of Staffing Levels to the Level of Enforcement Services Needed

PCOs work an eight-hour, five-day work week. While most PCOs are scheduled to work Monday through Friday, approximately 97 of the 1,325 shifts per week are scheduled on weekends, primarily to provide limited coverage in General Enforcement and Residential Permit Parking areas and to staff the Street Sweeping, Muni and 587/588 Details. Shifts start as early as 5:30 am and are staggered throughout the day to provide coverage usually until 7:30 pm. Residential Permit Parking provides coverage from 8:00 am to 9:30 pm. Additionally, one Street Sweeping shift runs from 11:30 pm to 8:00 am, seven days a week.

The Department"s scheduling of PCO shifts should, to the extent possible, reflect its minimum staffing requirements for each assignment and shift. As such, as part of this study, we also compared scheduled staffing, adjusted for attendance, to the need for enforcement services throughout the City, in order to determine whether there are a sufficient number of PCOs scheduled and available to provide enforcement services throughout the City when such services are needed. Specifically, we examined DPT"s General Enforcement and Residential Permit Parking beats and shift times and compared them to (a) the location of parking meters and residential permit parking areas throughout the City; and (b) the parking restrictions (e.g., time limits) in effect at those locations. We found that, while DPT does provide some level of enforcement services in all of the areas of the City where residential permit parking areas and parking meters are located, DPT often does not schedule a sufficient number of PCOs to provide complete coverage during a given time period, nor does it provide enforcement services during all the time periods when coverage is needed.

General Enforcement

For the purposes of General Enforcement, the City is geographically divided into seven areas, which are further divided into subsections or beats. According to DPT, the beats are designed such that each beat can and should be covered by at least one PCO. There are 79 General Enforcement (GE) beats throughout the City, the majority of which are located in the northeastern portion of the City. All areas of the City where parking meters are located are included in a GE beat, and each of the 79 GE beats contain parking meters.

Time restrictions for the City"s approximately 23,000 parking meters vary, but are typically in effect from 9:00 am through 6:00 pm. However, at no time is there a sufficient number of PCOs working so that there is one PCO in each of the 79 GE beats throughout the day. Based on DPT"s current PCO shift assignments, at most, 74 PCOs are scheduled to cover GE beats on weekdays, and only between the hours of 11:00 am and 3:00 pm. When attendance is taken into account, only 59 PCOs are actually available during those hours to cover GE beats. Before 11:00 am and after 3:00 pm, there are substantially fewer PCOs both scheduled and available to work in General Enforcement. In addition, though there are 28 GE beats with time restrictions in effect on Saturdays, at most only 16 PCOs are scheduled to work on Saturdays, of which only 12 typically show up. Table 1.2-2 below shows the number of PCOs scheduled and available to cover GE beats between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Monday through Saturday.

Table 1.2-2
Scheduled and Actual Staffing for

General Enforcement Beats, Monday - Saturday

As reflected in the table above, DPT"s coverage of GE beats, in terms of both scheduled shifts and shifts actually worked, is inconsistent and insufficient to adequately enforce parking meter regulations.

Residential Permit Parking

Another area in which DPT"s coverage often results in inadequate enforcement of parking regulations is Residential Permit Parking (RPP). There are 33 residential permit parking areas, all of which contain parking restrictions that are enforced by DPT. Since some of the areas have been combined into one beat, there are 26 RPP beats. According to DPT, at least one PCO should be assigned to each beat during the hours when parking restrictions are in effect. Time restrictions for parking in each area are typically in effect from 8:00 am through 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday, although some areas have time limits in effect from as early as 7:00 am and until as late as 11:00 pm. However, DPT"s coverage of RPP beats does not start until 8:00 am and lasts until only 9:30 pm. Table 1.2-3 below shows the number of RPP beats with time limits in effect and the number PCOs scheduled and available to cover those beats between 7:00 am and 11:00 pm on a daily basis.

Table 1.2-3
Scheduled and Actual Staffing for
Residential Permit Parking Beats

As shown in Table 1.2-3 above, although there is sufficient coverage on weekdays between 8:00 am and 9:00 am and between 1:00 pm and 4:30 pm, there are not enough PCOs scheduled and available to cover all of the RPP beats that need coverage between 4:30 pm and 9:00 pm on weekdays. In addition, only two PCOs are scheduled and available to work on Saturdays, between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, though as many as seven RPP beats require Saturday coverage. There are no PCOs scheduled to work on Sunday, when there is one RPP beat that needs coverage. As such, DPT"s coverage of RPP beats is insufficient to adequately enforce RPP parking restrictions throughout the City and fails to provide enforcement services during all the time periods when coverage is needed.

Dual Assignments

In addition, as part of this analysis, we also reviewed the deployment of PCOs to more than one assignment during his/her shift, in order to determine whether PCOs were being deployed in an efficient manner. For example, DPT commonly assigns one PCO to cover a morning or afternoon tow route and a GE beat during one shift. Based on our review, we found that DPT consistently assigned PCOs to tow routes that were in close geographic proximity to their GE beats, so that a significant amount of work time was not lost in traveling from the tow route to the GE beat. However, we also found that, the reassignment of PCOs to backfill other PCOs who were absent and therefore unable to cover their regular GE beats or tow routes, often resulted in long travel times for the reassigned PCOs to travel from their GE beats to their tow routes, or vice versa. Thus, once again, PCO absenteeism contributes to the inefficient deployment of PCOs.

In conclusion, DPT often does not schedule a sufficient number of PCOs on certain assignments and/or certain days of the week to meet its minimum staffing requirements or to provide adequate coverage throughout the City at all times when coverage is needed. At the same time, however, the Department is constrained in its ability to schedule a sufficient number of PCOs for each assignment and shift, since there are only so many PCOs available to work. For example, as noted in Section 1, out of the 299 filled PCO positions, DPT has assumed that only 265 are available on a regular basis to work, due to a high number of PCOs who are on long-term leave, with an unknown date of return. This large number of PCOs on long-term leave significantly contributes to the high rate of absenteeism among PCOs in general. Until the factors causing this high absenteeism are addressed, the Department will continue to be unable to provide an adequate level of enforcement services throughout the City.

Opportunities for Improvement

Based on our analysis of the Enforcement Division"s deployment practices and minimum staffing requirements, we recommend that the Enforcement Division make the following changes in order to improve the provision of enforcement services:

• As previously noted, according to DPT, each General Enforcement (GE) beat was designed such that each beat should be covered by at least one PCO. However, from our ride-alongs and discussions with PCOs and other Enforcement Division staff, and from our examination of GE beat maps, we found that many beats were relatively small in size (e.g., six City blocks in the financial district or four City blocks in the South of Market area). Some of these smaller beats could be consolidated and still be easily covered by a PCO with a vehicle during his/her shift. DPT already combines many beats on a regular basis because of staff shortages. In addition, since the existing beat structure has remained relatively unchanged for at least 20 years, DPT should consider restructuring certain GE beats, given past and future changes in land use and transportation throughout the City. We therefore recommend that DPT consider restructuring GE beats in order to achieve a more efficient and effective allocation of PCOs that could improve the Department"s ability to provide a sufficient level of enforcement services throughout the City.

• In addition to restructuring GE beats, we recommend that DPT redeploy PCOs so that (a) more consistent coverage of GE beats is provided throughout the day; (b) more coverage of GE beats is provided before 9:00 am, after 5:30 pm, and on Saturdays. This could be done by adjusting shift start times and/or adding new shifts.

• DPT"s coverage of RPP areas needs to be improved. DPT should increase coverage of RPP areas after 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, and on weekends. In addition, the shift start times of some of the PCOs assigned to RPP beats would have to be adjusted in order to provide coverage of RPP areas that are still in effect past 6:00 pm.

Special Event Coverage

DPT is responsible for providing traffic control at approximately 36 special events and at all games held at 3-Com Park. During the FY 1998-99 budget process, DPT"s request for $575,000 in overtime to provide traffic control at special events was denied. DPT advises that it was directed by the Mayor"s Office to use PCOs on regular duty to perform traffic control duties at special events.

The Budget Analyst conducted an analysis of DPT"s cost of covering special events on straight time versus overtime. By reassigning regular duty PCOs from general enforcement duties to special events, DPT reduces the number of PCOs available for patrolling in residential permit parking areas, issuing citations to increase parking turnover, reducing traffic congestion, and responding to the public"s complaints. DPT estimates that special event coverage requires approximately 23,478 hours of PCO time, or the equivalent of approximately 14 PCOs on a full-time basis (after taking leave time into account). Since each PCO generates approximately $194,502 in revenues per year, the 14 PCOs diverted from general enforcement duties to special events results in potential lost revenues of as much as $2,723,028 annually. Based on DPT"s estimated cost of $575,000 to provide special event coverage on an overtime basis, additional net revenues of $2,148,028 per year would result by covering special events on overtime rather than on straight time.

While this performance audit was in process, DPT advises that the Mayor"s Office reallocated $275,000 in excess attrition savings in DPT"s FY 1998-99 budget to overtime, to be used for special event coverage by PCOs. The Budget Analyst supports this action and recommends that DPT continue to use overtime rather than regular duty PCOs to cover special events in the future. DPT should request funds in its FY 1999-00 budget for overtime to provide special event coverage.

Conclusions

Based on our review and analysis of DPT"s deployment policies and practices, we found that DPT often does not schedule a sufficient number of PCOs to meet its minimum staffing requirements or to adequately enforce parking regulations during all periods when coverage is needed the most. This problem is further exacerbated by the high absenteeism discussed in Section 1.1.

For example, DPT falls short of its minimum staffing requirements on every day of the week, resulting in 119 shifts (of the minimum requirement of 1,242 shifts) remaining unstaffed each week. In addition, DPT does not provide consistent or sufficient coverage of General Enforcement beats throughout the day or of Residential Permit Parking areas during all time periods when coverage is needed.

DPT should modify current PCO deployment and shift assignment practices in order to achieve a more efficient and effective allocation of PCOs and to improve the Department"s ability to provide a sufficient level of enforcement services throughout the City.

The implementation of our recommendations would lead to improved coverage of General Enforcement beats and Residential Permit Parking areas, increased turnover of parking spaces, reduced traffic congestion, and better response to complaints. In addition, using overtime rather than regular duty PCOs to provide special event coverage would increase revenues by over $2.1 million annually.

Recommendations

The Enforcement Director should:

1.2-1 Evaluate opportunities to formally consolidate and/or restructure General Enforcement beats.

1.2-2 Redeploy PCOs in order to provide more consistent coverage of General Enforcement beats throughout the day and on weekends.

1.2-3 Improve the Enforcement Division"s coverage of Residential Permit Parking areas on weekday evenings and weekends.

1.2-4 Request funds in DPT"s FY 1999-00 budget for overtime to provide special event coverage.

Savings/Benefits

The implementation of our recommendations would lead to more efficient and effective deployment of PCOs, in a manner that is consistent with overall Departmental policies, and would improve the Department"s ability to provide a sufficient level of enforcement services throughout the City.

The results would be improved coverage of General Enforcement beats and Residential Permit Parking areas, increased turnover of parking spaces, reduced traffic congestion, and better response to complaints from the public. In addition, using overtime rather than regular duty PCOs to provide special event coverage would increase revenues by $2,148,028 annually.